Poll: Do you own Apple Stock?

[MacRumors]

Vote: Poll: Do you own Apple Stock? (http://www.macpolls.com/?poll_id=538)

[Willis]

No :( Wish we did though. Our portfolio has everything else in it!!

[mattthemutt]

I remember I could have bought when the shares were $30.00 a piece. Now they have split, and they're at $80.00 a piece. Boy, did I miss the boat.

[srf4real]

Woulda coulda shoulda... now it's way too expensive.

[Willis]

Woulda coulda shoulda... now it's way too expensive.

well... could be cheap... it may go up more over the next few years... but... 2/3 years ago it was kicking around 20-30$

[ajbchampion1]

Vote: Poll: Do you own Apple Stock? (http://www.macpolls.com/?poll_id=538)

The afterhours trading has apple stock at $102.

Yipppeeeeeee!!!!! I actually purchased at about $52.

[capone2]

I really needed the money oh well i had to do it

[javabear90]

Ya, I actually bought a good bit at ~25 a share. Now it eqivalent to abut 200 or so (because of split). :D
-Ted

[dashiel]

yep. though...

i remember as a poor college student back in '96 or '97 i saw steve give a keynote presentation at seybold and was 100% sure apple was back on track. i tried to convince anyone i knew to buy AAPL, which at the time was under $15 and before two splits, so that's make it worth about $4 in todays market.

no one listened. i was too poor, and when i did scrape some money together i used it as a down on a home.

[ortuno2k]

I've been looking into it, but I know very little about investing.
Also, no cashola to invest :(
I would if I had the money.

[ripfrankwhite]

Is it too late to buy some? I'm thinking of buying 100 shares ASAP. Can I buy shares after hours? What is a good online broker. I'm tired of waiting, I'm ready to jump in.

[Gfive]

Bought 400 shares at $12 in january 2000.

[JoshH]

I own one share... it was a birthday gift :)

[machan]

Yep. Bought when it was around $14/share. Spent around $350 on 25 shares. Now it's 50 shares valued a bit over $5000. I think I did pretty well so far.

[WildCowboy]

Not currently. AAPL made me a nice 3.4x in the space of about 15 months from late '04 to early '06. Got out at the top before the pullback. Probably should have gotten back in at the bottom of the dip, but that money's doing nicely for me elsewhere now, so I don't feel too bad about it.

[pimentoLoaf]

700 shares. :cool:

Here's the MarketWatch link to the share price; it updates automatically if you have Javascript turned on:

http://www.marketwatch.com/quotes/aapl

[SMM]

I have been buying their stock over the past four years. I moved out of tech when the .com bubble burst. Got lucky with most, took a bath on a couple (would love to get my hands on the former CEO of Corel). I moved back in cautiously. At the time I first bought Apple, I had actually never used a Mac. Is that not a kicker!

If someone is considering investing in Apple right now, I think it is solid long-term stock. However, it will do a correction after the run-up. You will probably be able to get in at a better point.

Slightly off-topic, but I always like to share this with young people, and we have several on this forum. Do not wait to start investing in your retirement! Many of you are going to see 90 and 100 years of age. You will have stopped working 30-40 years prior. That is a long time to live a decent lifestyle without a job. The earlier you begin investing, the longer that investment gets to grow.

[winmacguy]

Swapped some local NZ shares for :apple: stocks when :apple: were around $72 US a share. I'm still smiling:).
If I had known that I could by US shares without actually living in the US I would have bought them when they were around $34 a share which is when I figured that they were going to keep going up for a while. It was only when I asked my dad a while back that he told me it was possible to buy US shares so I got them. I figure they have a looooong way to go UP before I sell them.

I've been looking into it, but I know very little about investing.
Also, no cashola to invest :(
I would if I had the money.

I saw a news item here just recently about investing. It was very interesting. The advice was, if you love something and know a lot about it (property, art, currency, antiques, technology, classic cars......etc) buy into it and aim to hang onto it for at least 15-20 years. After that you should have yourself a wopping great investment as well as the wonderful value of hindsight of the great idea that you had 15 or so years ago to get into that investment. You will be smiling all the way to the bank.

[samh004]

I own one share... it was a birthday gift :)

My mum keeps suggesting I get 1 share... but what's 1 share. Maybe I'll do it now, or consider investing in more as I do think Apple is going to increase in value.

None right now though...

[dgbatchelor]

SMM is absolutely correct. Start investing in your future now. I have been buying AAPL stock over the past five years. My first batch was at a price of $13.10 (April 2003)... That stock has since split -- so the equivalent share price was $6.55...

Who would have guessed back then that AAPL would be approaching $100/share? (especially after a 2:1 split in Feb 2005)

Apple Inc. seems like a really solid company, innovative, "Best-of-Breed"...

Go for it! :cool:

[Daveway]

Mother and I hold around 250 shares since mid 2004 and the split.

Best investment ever.

[macFanDave]

I bought some in 1997 at a split-adjusted price of around 4.25/share.

Later, I bought more at 10.50 and 14.

AAPL is the only good stock pick I've ever made, and it's the only one I've made with my heart. Coincidence?

[sethypoo]

700 shares. :cool:

Here's the MarketWatch link to the share price; it updates automatically if you have Javascript turned on:

http://www.marketwatch.com/quotes/aapl

Words cannot express how jealous I am...you lucky bastard! Congrats on that investment.

I bought back in May of 2005. It's done pretty good since them but nothing compared to buying in 2004 or earlier. AAPL is one investment I'm going to hold on to for a good long while.

[solvs]

I should have bought back when I had a chance, but I used the money for other things, then it started to climb and I didn't want to invest while it was going up. Then it just kept going. I could kick myself. I was telling people to invest prior to that back when I heard about this new thing they were doing with music. Told everybody it was going to be huge. Should have taken my own advice, but no one else did either.

Ah well, hindsight is 20/20 and all.

[smurfjammer]

Swapped some local NZ shares for :apple: stocks when :apple: were around $72 US a share. I'm still smiling:).
If I had known that I could by US shares without actually living in the US I would have bought them when they were around $34 a share which is when I figured that they were going to keep going up for a while. It was only when I asked my dad a while back that he told me it was possible to buy US shares so I got them. I figure they have a looooong way to go UP before I sell them.

Winmacguy, who do you use to broker your shares in New Zealand?
I have 1 Apple share (oneshare.com) on my wall in my studio but want to buy some more...

[PCMacUser]

Swapped some local NZ shares for :apple: stocks when :apple: were around $72 US a share. I'm still smiling:).
If I had known that I could by US shares without actually living in the US I would have bought them when they were around $34 a share which is when I figured that they were going to keep going up for a while. It was only when I asked my dad a while back that he told me it was possible to buy US shares so I got them. I figure they have a looooong way to go UP before I sell them.

It's useful to know that that is possible :)

[zwida]

I've been buying AAPL since Oct 2000. It took me awhile to overcome my concerns after the stock started falling in August. I didn't get it at the low, but I bought my first 60 shares at 10.09 and picked up another 40 at 9.19 a year later. Last week, I took my tax return and bought 60 more shares at 90. I figured the earnings would be good, but I was still a bit nervous since Apple used to fall after announcing earnings (even when they beat the pants off the estimates). So anyway, I figure it's going to split in the next year as it continues to creep towards $150 a share.

As the analysts like to say, I'd be buying on any weakness.

[Gfive]

Since I have my shares it increased more than 1150% in value.

(If apple will open today at $102 :-)....... we will see

[JoshH]

My mum keeps suggesting I get 1 share... but what's 1 share. Maybe I'll do it now, or consider investing in more as I do think Apple is going to increase in value.

None right now though...

Yeah, the one share was just a neat gift idea (not a real trading investment). I got a little framed certificate and everything with it... I think it was from a place called oneshare.com or something like that...

[MattG]

Yes...5 shares :) It was a birthday present from my parents! I also got 20? shares of Microsoft. I woulda liked all Apple, but Apple = expensive :eek:

[hob]

I've never had the spare cash. I told my mum back in '03, and '04, and '05 to get some but she never did...

Shame!

[SPUY767]

I have had the stock since 1997, bought it in June. Sold the lions share of that in march of 2000 because my broker and I sort of saw the whole tech bubble bursting. Snatched it back up Jan of 2k3, about 5x the shares I had in 2000 give or take what I paid in Cap. Gians. Now I have 6141 shares of it and it's treating me better than any of my other stocks. NKE, and AAI <--- abomination.

[ero87]

i have 2 shares. :D

i'm a college student, i can't afford much more.

but AAPL just hit $100, woohoo! I bought at $86

[jng]

10 shares, bought at about $30/piece two summers ago when I actually had some extra cash lying around

Agreed, it's never too early to start. Too bad I haven't had extra cash for a while...

[sonarghost]

I have 1100 shares...almost dumped them a few months ago but glad I stuck it out now!!

[mashny]

I have 150 shares, purchased around August for $64/share. Had a few hundred last year at about $30 but, like an idiot, I sold them a few months later.

Still, I'm happy to simply be in the stock. It still has huge upside to it so I plan to hold for the long term and buy more when I can afford to do so.

As for the use of just one share, it is a great gift for a kid (or even a adult) because it might spark an interest in the market and the desire to be smart about investing and finances (something I was never taught growing up and only became somewhat knowledgeable about a few years ago).

All in all, despite my undying love of Apple, I bought the stock because I evaluated it to be a smart investment both from a technical and fundamental perspective. The fact that it was Apple didn't hurt. :)

[whenpaulsparks]

this is the greatest stock-related advice you'll see on this forum.

put your money in an IRA. have your IRA buy the stocks.

any and all profit is tax-free. you'll just need to know what you're doing, so find an investment firm that specializes in this. 100% legal, the IRS wants you to do this because social security is going out the window.

or if you'd rather pay taxes on it, whatever.

[SPUY767]

I just realized that I've made far more money in apple than I would have had I put money into google. If a man put $10,000.00 US in google at the point of their IPO, he would have had 94 shares which would now be worth $44,391. 10 grand in Apple at the same time would have netted you 645 shares, now worth $62,171. Amazing to think that Apple has gained value faster than the internet golden boy over the same time frame. Google's real notoriety in the market is it's $500 a share stock price.

[ripfrankwhite]

I have some extra cash that I would really like to invest. I want to put $10,000 into Apple ASAP. Which online broker do you guys suggest? Any other advice is also appreciated.

[mashny]

I have some extra cash that I would really like to invest. I want to put $10,000 into Apple ASAP. Which online broker do you guys suggest? Any other advice is also appreciated.

I use Schwab, but if you're going to hold for the long term, and you're not going to trade regularly, it probably doesn't matter which brokerage you use: for more active traders, or traders with a lot of money, different brokers offer their own incentives to get your business – lower commissions, access to proprietary research, access to the company's advisors, better customer service, option-related benefits... But if you're new to the market and just want to buy some AAPL shares to hold, it really doesn't matter who you use.

Though some would consider Apple's price of 100 to be high, when you adjust for its past splits, it's actually at 800. Roughly 70% to 80% of stock is purchased by institutional buyers who don't care whether stock costs $20 per share or $200 per share. While 100 per share might seem expensive, the institutions will keep buying it until they feel it is no longer worth owning, so don't listen to those who say the stock is priced "high." Apple has several very promising sources of revenue in the future--it's not a one trick pony--and it is already growing its computer sales at several times the average of the PC makers. Technically (and I'm not going to go into a treatise on technical analysis), it's at a stable price point. That said, nothing is guaranteed, especially in the stock market.

Good luck!

[sonarghost]

I just realized that I've made far more money in apple than I would have had I put money into google. If a man put $10,000.00 US in google at the point of their IPO, he would have had 94 shares which would now be worth $44,391. 10 grand in Apple at the same time would have netted you 645 shares, now worth $62,171. Amazing to think that Apple has gained value faster than the internet golden boy over the same time frame. Google's real notoriety in the market is it's $500 a share stock price.

You are right! That's why there are those that like to invest in penny (small cap) stocks. You buy thousands of shares and if they go up just $2.00 You've done well. You definately get better leverage with your money. However, this is ALOT more risky than your large cap stocks!

[WildCowboy]

this is the greatest stock-related advice you'll see on this forum.

put your money in an IRA. have your IRA buy the stocks.

any and all profit is tax-free. you'll just need to know what you're doing, so find an investment firm that specializes in this. 100% legal, the IRS wants you to do this because social security is going out the window.

or if you'd rather pay taxes on it, whatever.

Sure, IRAs are a great tool for saving for retirement, but it's not a very different animal than regular stock trading. Yes, you get tax benefits, but you also can't cash it in and receive your gains whenever you want. You're also subjected to the $4000 annual contribution limit, which isn't a heck of a lot for most investors.

IRAs, good. Non-retirement stock investments (individual stocks and mutual funds), also good. A solid portfolio will have several different types of investments.

[Legolamb]

I've been buying Apple since 1997. I have 500 shares. All the time, my broker's bought it through what they call "unsolicited" or "discretionery" transactions, i.e. not through their recommendations. They serve me pretty well on all other stocks, but their understanding of Apple leaves much to be desired. Remember the days when Apple was thought to be bought out by Sun?

[mrsebastian]

hell yeah :D

[James Knox]

Since this is a preselected group of Mac users or interested parties, I am greatly surprised that less than half own even one share.

It says that there is a lot of room left to grow.

I own some, and I don't own any common stocks that I do not think have a good chance to double in three years. AAPL. of course, has exceeded my goal, but I think there is at least another 100 percent in it.

[calichris517]

I am thinking about investing in apple. What sites do you all use?

[TimDaddy]

I got a prospectus for each of the mutual funds in my 401k last year. I noticed that Apple is listed in the top ten holdings of two of them. Still, a small amount of my money overall is in Apple.

[DZ/015]

I had shares for several years until this afternoon when my limit order was executed at $101.00. Bought in at $9.30. I love AAPL!

[SPUY767]

Bollocks. There was a sell off before the bell yesterday. Damnabmle profit takers.

[motomullet]

I own 11 shares

[pimentoLoaf]

I have some extra cash that I would really like to invest. I want to put $10,000 into Apple ASAP. Which online broker do you guys suggest? Any other advice is also appreciated.

I've been with TD Waterhouse (now known as TD Ameritrade by way of a merger with Ameritrade) since the early 1990's. Never a complaint, so never will I leave. Excellent online services.

They're a discount brokerage, so don't expect alotta hand-holding.

[JustGotAMAC]

I also have TD Ameritrade, but I just opened mine last Friday. I'm having fun trading stocks like a mad man. I'm off this week and the next, so I'm pretending like a day trader. Been trading stocks back and forth for the past five days. Been making about $100 or so each day. Kinda fun.

[ginamac]

Most of my family does though.

Gina

[pimentoLoaf]

Be careful with the day-trading: the stock market is not a large slot machine that owes you the money you lost into it.

If all you're making is a $100/day, you need to think more long-term like three or four days. You also need to look at supply-chains -- that is, what is dependent on something else. That, of course, requires longer-term thinking on weeks and months and...

Hope your keeping track of everything. The IRS will want to know everything you did. (But that's what a good spreadsheet is for.)

[JustGotAMAC]

Be careful with the day-trading: the stock market is not a large slot machine that owes you the money you lost into it.

If all you're making is a $100/day, you need to think more long-term like three or four days. You also need to look at supply-chains -- that is, what is dependent on something else. That, of course, requires longer-term thinking on weeks and months and...

Hope your keeping track of everything. The IRS will want to know everything you did. (But that's what a good spreadsheet is for.)

You're right as it does feel like gambling to me. I would actually be up over $1000, but I lost a a few dollars on Apple stock in the past 2 days. I'm a total noob so I really just invested a safe amount that I wouldn't lose any sleep over. I would certainly love to learn the business, and I've been reading quite a few forums in order to understand timing better.

[Swarmlord]

Yes. 100 shares. I like to diversify my portfolio too much to put much more into one stock no matter how well it's doing.

[macidiot]

I remember I could have bought when the shares were $30.00 a piece. Now they have split, and they're at $80.00 a piece. Boy, did I miss the boat.


My family bought at $30, $35, $60. I bought at $13. Not going to discuss how many shares, because I think it is completely bourgeois and tacky to do so.

Apple is going to $135 in 12 months. So you haven't completely missed the boat. Unless of course you never buy.

[macidiot]

Yes...5 shares :) It was a birthday present from my parents! I also got 20? shares of Microsoft. I woulda liked all Apple, but Apple = expensive :eek:

expensive is relative. Those 20 shares of Microsoft would be about 3-10 shares of Apple depending on when you bought it. But you would have made a lot more money with Apple. Kind of a penny-wise, pound-foolish thing.

[MrBigMac]

:) I bought 1500 shares @ 14.33pps way back with the 2 for 1 forward split I now have 3000 shares :) SURRRRRe hope we see another 2 for 1 split in the near future:) :) :) :) Mine is all in my IRA which is great for my personel situation. Most of my other stocks are outside of my IRA . I use TDAmeritrade for my day to day fun they are very very good IMHO.

[phantomile co.]

im about to buy 30 shares. it's my first time doing anything in the stock market though, but it seems like the stock will only go up if anything. atleast until jan 08.

what do you guys think?

[tristan]

No Apple. I have some Intel though. But mostly I just Index.

[papadopolis1024]

yep. though...

i remember as a poor college student back in '96 or '97 i saw steve give a keynote presentation at seybold and was 100&#37; sure apple was back on track. i tried to convince anyone i knew to buy AAPL, which at the time was under $15 and before two splits, so that's make it worth about $4 in todays market.

no one listened. i was too poor, and when i did scrape some money together i used it as a down on a home.

Steve did not come back untill Dec 20 1996 so it was prob. atleast '97

EDIT: I dont own any myself but I know people who do and I tell them about whats happening with apple and so on. (they dont even use a mac!)

[tringo]

I've been a big Mac head for about a year, and I finally bought some shares at about $87 early this year.

I think a lot of financial investors are thinking that Apple is a fad or something but don't understand that the Mac revolution is JUST getting started. I mean how many friends or family do you know that say that their next computer is going to be a Mac?

[ObsidianIce]

Yes indeed i own some.

I would say for all of you that say you don't have cash to invest...simply use a sharebuilder account or another comapny that does dollar based investing. No reason you could spend $20 or $30 bucks a paycheck or even a month. It starts small but it adds up over time if you keep at it.

[wmmk]

Can't say I do, but we had a online stock market game in for all the accelerated math students in Illinois a few years ago and I bought 10 shares of apple. The iPod mini was released about about a week after the purchase and I was golden. I also had quite a bit of other (bad) stocks which essentially lost me the game. Oh well...

[afbuckeye]

I don't have any. I wish I would have got a few back when I had a chance 3 or 4 years ago. I would have had made a decent amount by now if I would have bought what I wanted.

Plenty of things in our lives that we shoulda done though.

Anybody think it is still a good idea to buy even at the current price?

[mashny]

I don't have any. I wish I would have got a few back when I had a chance 3 or 4 years ago. I would have had made a decent amount by now if I would have bought what I wanted.

Plenty of things in our lives that we shoulda done though.

Anybody think it is still a good idea to buy even at the current price?

Well, the last time the stock split, in 2005, it was around 90 (it's now at roughly 200 at pre-split prices). The two times before that it was also around that range. I'm sure there were people in early 2005 wondering whether AAPL was still a good buy at 90.

While the current price might seem high, 70% to 80% of stock is bought by institutions. They don't worry about a stock's price the way individuals do: all they worry about is whether a stock is a good investment; if it is, it's worth the price. They then figure out what percentage of their money they want to spend on a particular stock and then buy the appropriate number of shares. Berkshire Hathaway's "A" shares (BRKA) are currently trading at $109,000 per share; their "B" shares (BRKB) are now at $3,629.50 per share. Think that's expensive for a share? The question is irrelevant: the buyers of these shares are more sophisticated investors who aren't concerned about price per se, and they wouldn't spend so much for one share of stock if they felt it was an unwise investment.

If you want to own Apple stock, but are overly concerned that it is priced too high, buy some shares and then enter a stop-loss order so you know in advance what your risk is.

[rweflyn1]

I knew in my soul Apple would go crazy when they ported iTunes to the Windows world a few years ago. Not being a savvy investor and just plain too dumb (afraid) to take the risk, I did nothing. Finally, after watching from the sidelines while the stock just climbed and climbed (except for during the Intel switch-over), I jumped in with my entire (99&#37;) mutual funds portfolio August of 2006. (I left the 401K alone, however). My broker thought I was nuts at the time. That bought 3,300 shares at $63.80 then and now Apple is trading around 100. I'm not sorry so far, and I'm in for the long haul. I feel very lucky, just 3 1/2 years too late to the party. I spend at least an hour a day (weekdays) reading the analysts and watching various posts on Google and Yahoo, in particular. You learn to sort out much of the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) - all the stupid disinformation. There's a lot of it out there with a company like Apple - tons of professional jealousy, I suppose. When the stock doubles within the next year at about $128/share, depending on tax penalties and what-not, I may pull enough out to pay off the house and save all that remaining interest. Then we'll invest that monthly payment back into something good - including more Apple, I'm sure. They just seem unstoppable right now. We'll hope for the best. This has been a watershed "financial" event in my life, so far. I have about 12 years to "retirement" at this point. And yes, I am a Mac person. I bought one of the first Macs in 1984 and have been a big fan ever since. We have four of them operational in the house, including a Mini that runs on our 62" DLP TV as its monitor. I love Apple. They are a blast of fresh air in a world full of mediocre products. The world is quickly catching on, too. Best of luck to all the other Apple fans out there.

Fast forward to July 20, 2007: A bit less than 3 months since my first post above and aapl has closed at over $143.00/share. The iPhone came out and appears to be a huge hit. We are considerably past the "doubling" point already but there is no way I'm pulling the sell-off trigger now. I'm holding on until at least past $200.00/share. What a wild ride this has been. My advice: get in now before it's too late and watch it like a hawk. Nothing but upside through Christmas from this point. Take care.

[Cindynjgirl79]

no i wish i did! i love everything apple does and puts out.

[zwida]

Well, the last time the stock split, in 2005, it was around 90 (it's now at roughly 200 at pre-split prices). The two times before that it was also around that range. I'm sure there were people in early 2005 wondering whether AAPL was still a good buy at 90.

While the current price might seem high, 70&#37; to 80% of stock is bought by institutions. They don't worry about a stock's price the way individuals do: all they worry about is whether a stock is a good investment; if it is, it's worth the price. They then figure out what percentage of their money they want to spend on a particular stock and then buy the appropriate number of shares. Berkshire Hathaway's "A" shares (BRKA) are currently trading at $109,000 per share; their "B" shares (BRKB) are now at $3,629.50 per share. Think that's expensive for a share? The question is irrelevant: the buyers of these shares are more sophisticated investors who aren't concerned about price per se, and they wouldn't spend so much for one share of stock if they felt it was an unwise investment.

If you want to own Apple stock, but are overly concerned that it is priced too high, buy some shares and then enter a stop-loss order so you know in advance what your risk is.

First, let me say that I generally agree that Apple is a good investment right now. I bought more at 92 a few weeks back and will buy on any dip of 5% or more through the summer. Their projected growth (and ability to blow away projections) suggests the stock may currently be underpriced up to around $130.

That said, your discussion of price per share (Berkshire, et al) leaves out the very important market cap of the companies and the (even more important) price to earnings ratio (either trailing or forward). I know that this "lingo" may be foreign to many posters, but it's much more important in any investment decision than the price per share. I wouldn't bring this stuff up at all, but it seems that there are people here who are seriously considering putting a large chunk of money into a stock without a good sense of what makes Apple a good investment. I guess it doesn't matter in the long run (as long as the stock appreciates), but it makes it a lot harder to know when and why it's time to sell (and that day will come and go and come again, even for us die hard Mac-heads).

By way of info, Berkshire's current market cap is $169.3 billion; their trailing twelve month (ttm) P/E is 15.29. Apple's current market cap is $86.3 billion and their ttm P/E is around 31. Apple stock would be brutally punished by investors if they weren't so blowing away their earnings estimates. I'd guess that the stock will be off at least 15% the day they turn in numbers in line with or below expectations...

[mashny]

...That said, your discussion of price per share (Berkshire, et al) leaves out the very important market cap of the companies...

zwida:

Those are good points. Basically, I didn't want to get too into stock fundamentals or technicals in my earlier post: I simply wanted to emphasize that a stock's price, in itself, is no indication of whether it is too expensive to be a good investment. A stock can be overpriced at $20 per share or, in the case of Apple, fairly priced or even underpriced at $100 per share.

A lot of people in this forum seem to want to invest in Apple, without any knowledge of the stock market or of how stocks are evaluated.

[MacWanted]

I wish I could afford Apple stock. It seems to be doing quite well. Maybe it will split soon, so I can afford a few shares.

[afbuckeye]

Does anybody expect a split anytime soon? and if they do when?

[MacWanted]

Does anybody expect a split anytime soon? and if they do when?

I believe that I read something about a split over at Appleinsider or Macrumors. It might have been on Page 2 rumors though.

[zwida]

zwida:

Those are good points. Basically, I didn't want to get too into stock fundamentals or technicals in my earlier post: I simply wanted to emphasize that a stock's price, in itself, is no indication of whether it is too expensive to be a good investment. A stock can be overpriced at $20 per share or, in the case of Apple, fairly priced or even underpriced at $100 per share.

A lot of people in this forum seem to want to invest in Apple, without any knowledge of the stock market or of how stocks are evaluated.

Agreed. :)

[floriflee]

Yup. We own a few Apple stocks. We'd like to own more, but it's all about what we can afford. Right now we're trying to diversify our investments a bit more.

[twoodcc]

i don't , but i wish that i did

[uNext]

I have 8800 shares with apple....

Best investment i could have done....

Because of it i basically get mac stuff for free...

bought shares when they where like 14-20 bucks back when i was 17 years old in 97 and been buying since
up to what i have now-last time i bought an apple share was last year @ 45 bucks a piece.....

[Peel]

I bought 100 shares at $15 pre-split. Of course now I wish I had bought alot more :rolleyes:

[c.joe.go]

i have the joy of owning a nice chunk of the amazing company. it hasn't been as nice to own as some other securities, but it does make a nice conversation piece. i hope for a nice split, i have nice load of cash to chuck into my aapl holding once i see another nice buy number... only time will tell.

[mashny]

Since people here seem to be getting giddy about the possibility of Apple splitting its shares, here's a a copy of my post in the "Apple Stock Split Coming?" thread:

The abundance of misconceptions regarding stock splits is staggering. Stock splits are truly dollar neutral: Assuming a 2:1 split, twice the number of shares become worth half as much. As someone pointed out, earnings per share also become adjusted for the split. Should you buy before or wait until after the split to buy the stock? It absolutely does not matter. If Apple splits at one hundred and you buy one hundred shares pre-split, you've spent $10,000. If you buy "twice as many shares" post-split, you've spent $10,000.

What people are also not considering is the importance of percentage movement in a stock versus point movement in a stock. The more shares in existence, the less a stock will move. Thus, if Apple moves 2% in one day, pre-split, that represents a 2-point move, while post-split, it represents a 1-point move. Remember, twice as many shares outstanding (when the stock splits) means that the stock will only move half as much for any given investment in the stock. Yes, you can double your money if the stock again doubles post-split (of which there is no guarantee of that happening) but you can also do that if the stock doesn't split, and--in either case--the same amount of money will have been invested to get your investment to double.

If a company is small and does not have many shares outstanding, splitting can help add liquidity to its market, so there are advantages to a company splitting its shares. But those huge dollar gains that many people here seem to be counting on, should the Apple split, are phantoms.

So, again, splitting does not make your investment any more valuable. You may feel excited by having more shares but they will be worth half as much and move only half as quickly on a point basis.

[AHDuke99]

today has been a good day. its surged to over $103 a share. i do wish they'd split soon.

[zwida]

today has been a good day. its surged to over $103 a share. i do wish they'd split soon.

Total speculation here, but I think they'll go 3 for 1 at $120 or so.

[AHDuke99]

i hope so. i am about to buy 4 more shares or so soon. it'd be nice to see them split. most investors have a target set at about $140 for apple within the next 9 months.

[pimentoLoaf]

Total speculation here, but I think they'll go 3 for 1 at $120 or so.

Jobs said awhile ago, if I remember correctly, that he wouldn't mind seeing the stock go around $200-250. That seems to imply no split anytime soon.

If it splits at all anytime soon, highest probability will be soon after iPhone or right after Leopard, with another chance next January or February. If iPhone becomes the Hollywood BOTY* , then anyone who is a fan of an iPhone'd someone will want to have one too.



* = Bling of the Year

[AHDuke99]

and it very well could. could be the new razr or ipod of the industry. but, that wont happen until the price comes down. the razr debuted at $499 + 2 year contract back in 2004, and now everyone has one.

[MrSmith]

In Japan, apparently, you cannot buy less than 100 shares (per my wife's investment advisor - I know nothing about it).

Therefore minimum Apple stock would cost me:

100 x 107 (AAPL) x 120 (JPY/USD) = ¥1,284,000 ($10,700)

In December, I believe, this would have been:

100 x 88 (AAPL) x 114 (JPY/USD) = ¥1,003,200 ($8,800)

I know next to nothing about the stock market but I'd like to buy some Apple stock. However, with these figures, even if I had that much cash, it wouldn't seem a good idea right now. Am I right?

[speedier]

Well, depends how much you wanna spend on investing. If you think it's gonna go up (and I think it is), then any investment in Apple is a good thing right now, even if its per-stock is expensive (it just means u get less shares!).

[MacKitten]

im certainly kicking myself too!
they will soon reach the 100 mark

[AHDuke99]

they are nearing $110 now. it's certainly one of the hottest stocks on the market right now. i also invested in AT&T since they will be carrying the iphone. i bet they'll go up as well.

[zap2]

NO :(


But I had bought when I had planed to I'd have made over 20 dollars per share.

[zwida]

they are nearing $110 now. it's certainly one of the hottest stocks on the market right now. i also invested in AT&T since they will be carrying the iphone. i bet they'll go up as well.

A bit off topic here, but consider that iPhone revenue is going to be of smaller importance to a company like AT&T, whose gross revenue for the January-March period was $15.8 billion. That said, I think T is a good investment for the mid term, just not necessarily for its iPhone play.

(You might also consider that their stock has moved up sharply in the last twelve months and that their P/E is a bit higher than you might like for an old-timey megacap telecom.)

[LineMastaJorbob]

No... I could of, should of, but didn't... :( now I'm tearing myself apart! :mad:

[nptski]

400 shares at around $20. I'm not a trader and know better than to think I can quit my day job to be one. It is a hold for me.

[jbuckner]

2000 Shares @ $67 is where I got in.

It was a bit rough when AAPL was in the low 50's; I almost sold then because I was taking a bath. But I knew it was going to be huge gainer w/ the MacBook and the iPhone and held on to it. Now that it's flirting with $110, I couldn't be happier.

BTW I don't think that the stock will split anytime soon, I'm basing this on the shareholders notes. I think AAPL will pull a Google and not split, to keep the riff raff out. (jk)

Come on iPhone and show me the money!!!!

[burritos]

in 1999 I used $2000 of my Roth IRA to buy apple. It went all the way up during the internet bubble and all the way down. It's been going up buy admittedly, I've sold shares as it continued to go up to buy other schtuff.

[Since '76]

I first started at $14 and sold at $29, both pre-split, always good to double up.

Few months ago bought back in at $73, plan to hold it till after the iPhone hype and Apple flattens out.

Maybe it will double up again for me :D

[cb911]

nope, i don't have any shares.

i might consider them when i do get into shares though, would have to check it all out though...

[feyd_ehway]

no.
my investments all total: 0
im hoping there will never be any rainy days
*meek grin*
or that someone will support me
*meeker grin*

[zwida]

Is it too late to buy some? I'm thinking of buying 100 shares ASAP. Can I buy shares after hours? What is a good online broker. I'm tired of waiting, I'm ready to jump in.

So, did you buy? You'd have paper profits of more than $1000 if you'd jumped in.

[rfrankl]

Jobs said awhile ago, if I remember correctly, that he wouldn't mind seeing the stock go around $200-250. That seems to imply no split anytime soon.

If it splits at all anytime soon, highest probability will be soon after iPhone or right after Leopard, with another chance next January or February. If iPhone becomes the Hollywood BOTY* , then anyone who is a fan of an iPhone'd someone will want to have one too.



* = Bling of the Year

Apple seems to have always split in the $80 to $90 range. But Google said they will never split because they are big fans of Warren Buffet. Well ever since Google's CEO Schmidt joined Apple's board, it seems like Apple is not going to split. I don't mind that. It seems to keep the daytraders and hedge funds away when you have a higher priced stock.

[pimentoLoaf]

Only problem with not splitting, is that I would not like to see my stock bounce up and down 8 points every day -- or worse.

Yo-yo-ing isn't fun.

[damir.hara]

I would like to get into stocks but im not very educated on it.

Whats a good place to start at? Books? Web sites?

Any help would be awesome.

[ObsidianIce]

I've always liked Motley Fool www.fool.com, I can't think of any books off the top of my head

I would like to get into stocks but im not very educated on it.

Whats a good place to start at? Books? Web sites?

Any help would be awesome.

[zwida]

I would like to get into stocks but im not very educated on it.

Whats a good place to start at? Books? Web sites?

Any help would be awesome.

Well, it really depends on what you mean when you say, "I would like to get into stocks."

I wouldn't recommend trading individual stocks unless you've got money to burn, or plenty of time to spend each week reading/researching companies. For that sort of info, trolling the Web is pretty good, but I'd also recommend the Wall Street Journal, Barrons, and the Economist (very good insight into the state of the world economy). Also, if you're really interested in trading (frequent buying and selling), you might try Jim Cramer's books. I'm not a died-in-the-wool believer in Cramer, but you'll learn a tremendous amount about the real world operation of trading markets.

If you want greater context for what you're getting yourself into, try The Equity Culture: The Story of the Global Stock Market by B. Mark Smith.

Start small and use a very-low-cost brokerage. You'll learn a great deal in a short time if you're paying attention and have some good resources to use as references.

[thegreatunknown]

I would like to get into stocks but im not very educated on it.

Whats a good place to start at? Books? Web sites?

Any help would be awesome.

an excellent place to start? the "For Dummies" books. you might laugh but they'll teach you the basics quickly and easily and then you can move from there. They have "Finance for Dummies", "Investing for Dummies", "Mutual Funds for Dummies" etc. etc. Start with what interests you and then you can break to more helpful detailed books later.

[AHDuke99]

i always look at trends, charts, earnings reports, and other things before i buy stock. currently, outside of apple stock, i own several natural gas and carbon emissions reducing companies with the green movement. i also own NIKE and crox. also, look to see which stocks the big investors are buying, as they probably know something about what is going on (see motorola).

[GrueHunter]

100 shares right now, but when it splits, I'm looking to snap up another hundred.

[spellinator]

I wish had bought when they were trading at $12 in 1998. $10K would have gotten me 800 shares or thereabouts. Today, that would be $98,400. Not bad for less than 10 years. Heck, if I had bought $10K worth of Dell stock back in the early nineties when they had all that trouble with foreign currency trading, I'd have close to a million dollars by now. I'm not sure where I'd put $10K today.

[iBookG4user]

I wish I owned Apple stock, but sadly I don't. It would be a very good investment right now though.

[Gav]

I inherited a few Apple shares I think... dunno though :p

[rwdebes]

an excellent place to start? the "For Dummies" books. you might laugh but they'll teach you the basics quickly and easily and then you can move from there. They have "Finance for Dummies", "Investing for Dummies", "Mutual Funds for Dummies" etc. etc. Start with what interests you and then you can break to more helpful detailed books later.

i agree , the dummies books are really good books.. people laugh, but they are what they are.. for dummies on an specific topic.. :p

[einsteinium]

i wish i did. but alas, the salary of graduate student doesn't really allow for many investments.

[SDLSteve]

kicking myself when it was 12 in 2000-2001, i bought $2000 in a worthless stock now would have about $60000 in apple. Sucks not being able to go back in time!

[jackc]

Do people think stock splits are like free money or something?

Don't let that have any effect on your buy or sell decision.

[jdd08]

I only owned fake apple stocks in this online stock game called wall street survivor. But in real life, not so much.

[Chairman Plow]

Wish I had bought in sooner.... getting my funds together and picking my spot to jump in. :D

[Dmac77]

No, unfortunately my parents think that the stock market is not a good place for a 14 year old to put their allowance:mad:

[Much Ado]

No, unfortunately my parents think that the stock market is not a good place for a 14 year old to put their allowance:mad:

It probably isn't.

[macidiot]

It probably isn't.

Why in the world would you think that?

Most people start investing far, far too late. With compounding, a few extra years dramatically increases overall returns.

Personally I think it's a great idea to invest young.

You learn important skills, like financial discipline, financial analysis, decision making. Skills that the majority of America don't have. What's the worst that will happen? The one or two shares of Apple a child owns drops in value? How is that worse than spending it on consumer junk? At least with investing, there is real skill learning and the possibility of increasing worth.

[Much Ado]

You learn important skills, like financial discipline, financial analysis, decision making.

Or, like many who invest young, you won't learn any of these skills and end up knowing nothing about the fundamentals of investing, instead preferring just to look at Google trend charts and hoping it stays green.

What's the worst that will happen? The one or two shares of Apple a child owns drops in value?

One or two shares? It does seem like an awful lot of effort for one of two shares.

My advice would be to do the learning first, and then invest. I'm still in my teens, but am far more able to invest rationally and without emotional attachment than I would have been doing so at 14. It all very well buying a stock, but there are zero rewards until you correctly judge when to sell it as well.

[peterdevries]

What's the worst that will happen? The one or two shares of Apple a child owns drops in value?

I think this is actually a lot of money at the current share price. I don't know that many kids that have this amount of money.

I think it is important to know the basics about investing before you actually do invest, if you do not have money to burn. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for disaster, and this is fine for most adults, but I guess not for kids. Let them practice in stock games first before starting with the real stuff.

[savanahrose]

No but I would like too. I plan on trying the stock market once I save up enough money to buy something. The old 401K just doesn't cut it for retirement.

[macidiot]

Or, like many who invest young, you won't learn any of these skills and end up knowing nothing about the fundamentals of investing, instead preferring just to look at Google trend charts and hoping it stays green.



One or two shares? It does seem like an awful lot of effort for one of two shares.

My advice would be to do the learning first, and then invest. I'm still in my teens, but am far more able to invest rationally and without emotional attachment than I would have been doing so at 14. It all very well buying a stock, but there are zero rewards until you correctly judge when to sell it as well.

Well, one would hope that some adult, hopefully a parent, would help out and guide. Granted given what the parents already said, this wouldn't look to be the case.

The goal at 14 is to not be Warren Buffett (who by the way, started investing at 14) and retire at age 25. The goal is to have a direct learning experience with stocks, maybe making some money along the way.

And zero rewards until you correctly judge when to sell? I suspect you might still have a lot to learn. A good start would be Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham.

As you said, you are a teenager yourself. What you are failing to see is that there are rewards other than simple monetary gains. You say all that will happen is daily checking of prices. If that is all that will happen, even that has merit. There is interest and excitement in what should be one of the most important subjects in a person's life. Too many people ignore investing, when the reality is that for most people, a large part of their life (retirement) will depend COMPLETELY on it. However, I do doubt that would be all that would happen. I suspect, using that scenario, one would check why the stock went up or dropped, checking the news. Even if it does drop, that is also a learning experience. Actually the best learning is experienced through failure, something Gen Y has no concept of.

You learn by doing.

[Much Ado]

And zero rewards until you correctly judge when to sell? I suspect you might still have a lot to learn. A good start would be Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham.

There are no dividends paid on AAPL, if that is what you mean...

What you are failing to see is that there are rewards other than simple monetary gains.

Ah ;)

I suspect, using that scenario, one would check why the stock went up or dropped, checking the news. Even if it does drop, that is also a learning experience. Actually the best learning is experienced through failure, something Gen Y has no concept of.


The fact that the poster we are generalising about stated that he/she wants to invest in AAPL shows that they have predetermined the stock they would like to own, presumably based either on sentiment or what they have read here on MR/the internet. This is dangerous. It is surely much better to first understand why a stock is performing well (to gauge how it will perform in the future) before deciding whether to purchase it. Buying based on emotion will make it harder to sell when the time comes, and will likely cloud judgement, and lead, as I say, to ambivalence towards the subtle details that one has to learn to invest on the markets.

[Besides, stocks like AAPL fluctuate wildly, so it is largely up to the investor to make the judgement as to the company's future performance based on earnings etc., as the market cannot always be trusted to adjust the price 'correctly' right away.]

By all means jump in at the deep end (I certainly did), but just make sure you will be able to swim before you do.

[macidiot]

I think this is actually a lot of money at the current share price. I don't know that many kids that have this amount of money.

I think it is important to know the basics about investing before you actually do invest, if you do not have money to burn. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for disaster, and this is fine for most adults, but I guess not for kids. Let them practice in stock games first before starting with the real stuff.

Well, I don't know what the family situation is, but I think that is a perfect time to "play" with a couple of shares. I highly doubt that a 14yo is paying for meals, clothes, rent, and insurance. Any money he (she) has is personal disposable income.

Put another way, which is a better purchase in the long term, an iTunes gift card, or a share of stock? If you don't get that it is obviously stock, there really is no point in discussing it further. The parents could have bought ONE share of Apple on the 14yo's first birthday, some time in 1995. Split-adjusted, it would have cost between 8-11 dollars. And would today be 4 shares at ~$180. $10 turned into $720.

fyi, I was investing at 14. And opened my first IRA at age 18. And will make far, far more money over my lifetime through investing than at any 9-5 job. btw, I was gifted some stock when I was very young. One of them was IBM. I'm not going to divulge how much (it was a very small amount). Point is, that one share would have cost about $17 back then. And would now be 16 shares at $120. That original $17 investment would be worth almost $2000. Which goes back to my original point, that time is CRITICAL. Extra years in the market can mean millions. Literally.

Ignorant people always talk about trust funds, with no knowledge of what one is. All it usually is, at least today, is the parents using the annual gift exclusion. $12,000/year per parent. So a maximum of $24,000 a year. Starting at age one, at age 18, the parents would have gifted 408,000. Assuming a historical return of 11%(about the stock market average), it would be worth $1,185,509.

Oh, and starting one year later, at age 2, by age 18 it would mean about $141,000 LESS.

There are no dividends paid on AAPL, if that is what you mean...



Ah ;)



The fact that the poster we are generalising about stated that he/she wants to invest in AAPL shows that they have predetermined the stock they would like to own, presumably based either on sentiment or what they have read here on MR/the internet. This is dangerous. It is surely much better to first understand why a stock is performing well (to gauge how it will perform in the future) before deciding whether to purchase it. Buying based on emotion will make it harder to sell when the time comes, and will likely cloud judgement, and lead, as I say, to ambivalence towards the subtle details that one has to learn to invest on the markets.

[Besides, stocks like AAPL fluctuate wildly, so it is largely up to the investor to make the judgement as to the company's future performance based on earnings etc., as the market cannot always be trusted to adjust the price 'correctly' right away.]

By all means jump in at the deep end (I certainly did), but just make sure you will be able to swim before you do.


It's nice that you are cautious to a fault. But in investing, and a lot of other things, but particularly investing, youth is the time to take some risk.

Again, ONE share of Apple is basically nothing. If it goes to zero (highly doubtful), how is it worse than accidentally dropping that 1.5 year old iPod nano in a pool?

And again, don't you think a person would spend time figuring out why a stock goes up or down? While I agree that MR might not be the best place for stock advice, there are plenty of sites with fundamentally sound advice. Try Motley Fool. They have exceptionally good basic information.

As for Apple fluctuating wildly, I could care less. I'm not a trader, I'm an investor. I buy stocks with the intent of holding them forever. I've had Apple stock for years. Yes, I suppose I could have made more money if I timed every move exactly perfectly. But I really can't be bothered with the day to day, minute to minute moves of a stock. And I'm more than happy with my 10x+ return.

[Much Ado]

I completely see your point...

However, have a look at this attachment from today's Google AAPL chart. It's another example of people investing who don't have a clue.

If someone invests and the result is a bit of green for a while, they might not feel the need to learn about the stock or the way the markets work. 'This is free money', some might say, until the day they've built their portfolios up and they get burned for not paying attention where it matters.

[TwinCities Dan]

I just started investing after New Years, and of course the first company I could think of to back was our boys (and girls) over at Apple. I have only put in $2500 into my Scottrade account but well over half of it went to Apple. I jumped in and bought a couple at $167 when it was sliding after the Christmas peak. I was a little discouraged when it continued to slide, but I love Apple to the "Core" and picked up a few more at $120. Now, its been 5 months since I started playing with stocks and Apple is my top performer. I have only collected 10 shares so far but, I am sitting at >%30 returns equaling about $500, not bad for my new "hobby" :)

-TwinCities Dan

[peterdevries]

Well, I don't know what the family situation is, but I think that is a perfect time to "play" with a couple of shares.

Giving a 14 year old a couple of stocks doesn't teach them anything if you don't have some extra money to back some losses up. What does sitting on 5 apple stocks for 10 years teach a 14 year old about trading?

Trading is selling and buying, and it is only selling and buying and investigating that teaches you the ins and outs of trading. Otherwise the kids are just sitting on top of a share trust fund and that doesn't teach them anything. From your own history I read that that is exactly what you did too during the first few years. With how much money (ballpark) did you start out when you really started trading, and at what age was that?

Don't get me wrong, I agree that starting young with this is good, but your comparison between an iTunes gift card and trading doesn't hold up. $15 would get you $5 dollars worth of stock, taking into account the trading fee. That means you would have to be hell good at selecting companies that have growth potential in this price range. On hindsight it is easy to say that IBM has developed greatly, but there are far more promising companies now than IBM ever was, that will be gone in 30 years. I think you need at the very least $500 invested in a few companies to get something going, because with this you already have an initial loss of about 10% percent due to the trading fee if you invest in 5 companies.

[macidiot]

Giving a 14 year old a couple of stocks doesn't teach them anything if you don't have some extra money to back some losses up. What does sitting on 5 apple stocks for 10 years teach a 14 year old about trading?

Trading is selling and buying, and it is only selling and buying and investigating that teaches you the ins and outs of trading. Otherwise the kids are just sitting on top of a share trust fund and that doesn't teach them anything. From your own history I read that that is exactly what you did too during the first few years. With how much money (ballpark) did you start out when you really started trading, and at what age was that?

Don't get me wrong, I agree that starting young with this is good, but your comparison between an iTunes gift card and trading doesn't hold up. $15 would get you $5 dollars worth of stock, taking into account the trading fee. That means you would have to be hell good at selecting companies that have growth potential in this price range. On hindsight it is easy to say that IBM has developed greatly, but there are far more promising companies now than IBM ever was, that will be gone in 30 years. I think you need at the very least $500 invested in a few companies to get something going, because with this you already have an initial loss of about 10% percent due to the trading fee if you invest in 5 companies.

I'm not really sure why you would need extra money to back losses up. Assuming a parent is involved, even if the stock goes to zero, important lessons can be learned. It isn't a happy outcome, but properly handled, it can teach risk/reward at the very least. More, it could teach analysis. And if it does grow, it obviously teaches the value of investing. A well involved parent is obviously important...

As I said, I started investing at 14. With a couple hundred dollars. However, it was not much investing, as there wasn't much money and I didn't know very much. I picked some stocks I liked. However, I started investing for real at age 18. With that IRA I mentioned. So about $1000. But I agree that in hindsight, it wasn't really investing, as I also think to properly invest in stocks, one needs about $100,000. And my parents had a lot of input. But at the time, it was investing to me. And I was in the market, learning about things like valuation, growth, etc. It was a good introduction to the stock market.

And you can avoid any commission fees by buying shares directly from a company. Most have some sort of program set up for just this thing, buying a few shares.

Yes, you could just sit on shares and learn nothing. Or, if the parent and child take an active interest, much could be learned. The only reason I was sitting on those shares passively was because I had no idea they were there. Once I did, I was actively interested, tracking them and eventually selling some to reallocate.

As for trading being investing, you are mistaken. It is a common mistake to think that stock trading is investing. It isn't. There are two completely different skill sets involved with traders and investors.

I think you are reading too much into this. Everyone is talking about nuanced investing. When you are dealing with a 14yo, learning the basics is accomplishment enough. I would think that just introducing the child to the stock market is a worthy goal.

Perhaps I illustrated poorly. My original point is, and I still believe to be true, is that investing is one of the most important skills a person can have in their life. And so few have any understanding whatsoever. Virtually everyone is invested in the stock market, either actively, or passively through a retirement plan. And at some point, they will be dependent on their portfolio. As a result, the sooner one starts learning, the better. It is a critical life skill. But, as I said, I am not suggesting a 14yo running a self-directed portfolio. What I am suggesting is that the 14yo should get involved in the stock market with parental supervision and guidance.

[birdmangriffin]

I started investing at age 18. I wasn't a day trader by any means, but I probably made 3-4 trades per month. Did I lose money sometimes? Yep, but with the amount that I originally started with (1,000)...it really didn't kill me that much. Eventually (3 years later), I'm now up about 60% and I learned a whole lot more from my losses than my gains.

[smallfield]

I was a fool. Bought 10 shares at 140 when it dropped, good move. Sold at 160 a few weeks later thinking we'd hit the ceiling... OOPS!! I should have held it because I believe in the product and apple has a great profit margin. I don't think iPhone will have effective competitors either. I guess you trade on fear and greed, i had too much fear then and too much greed before the recent crash.

I shouldn't complain about AAPL, >10% in weeks isn't bad. I was going to trade it for GOOG that was not doing as well, but after my trade, GOOG went from about mid 400s to mid 500s, just missed it.

Don't you guys think AAPL is overvalued at 180? This feels like the .com boom. HPQ w/ half the PE ratio and expanding to attack IBM for services contracts. MSFT at bargain pricing etc, I know vista and all, but come on, world domination is a good company to own.

I guess I like value investing. AAPL isn't really that anymore. Hell outside the sector, CROX is below it's IPO and has grown revenue like 4-5x since then.

Guess I've lost like 5% over the last 2 days with a poorly diversified account... my own fault.

[macidiot]

I was a fool. Bought 10 shares at 140 when it dropped, good move. Sold at 160 a few weeks later thinking we'd hit the ceiling... OOPS!! I should have held it because I believe in the product and apple has a great profit margin. I don't think iPhone will have effective competitors either. I guess you trade on fear and greed, i had too much fear then and too much greed before the recent crash.

I shouldn't complain about AAPL, >10% in weeks isn't bad. I was going to trade it for GOOG that was not doing as well, but after my trade, GOOG went from about mid 400s to mid 500s, just missed it.

Don't you guys think AAPL is overvalued at 180? This feels like the .com boom. HPQ w/ half the PE ratio and expanding to attack IBM for services contracts. MSFT at bargain pricing etc, I know vista and all, but come on, world domination is a good company to own.

I guess I like value investing. AAPL isn't really that anymore. Hell outside the sector, CROX is below it's IPO and has grown revenue like 4-5x since then.

Guess I've lost like 5% over the last 2 days with a poorly diversified account... my own fault.

No, at 180, Apple is pretty fairly valued, imo. Actually, I'd put fair value at about 190.

This is not a dot com situation. Apple is making money hand over fist, has a reasonable P/E given its growth and has zero debt and a pile of cash.

HP trades at a lower P/E because of many things, mostly because it is lower growth and lower margins. Which is why it is trying to move into high margin services.

Microsoft has done nothing because it is number one. If you have 90% market share, how do you take share from others? You don't. At best, you just grow with the market. At worst, which is what is happening, you lose share to a company like Apple. Yes, Microsoft is a money making machine. But where is the growth?

Apple has a cash cow in the iPod. Apple is taking computer share. The iPhone is now the new growth driver and will be worth billions in revenue. I'm long Apple for at least the next 3 years. As in, you won't see the meteoric growth in stock price, but 3 years from now, Apple stock should be at 400+.

[liptonlover]

I'm a 14 year old who is the proud owner of one apple stock... I would buy more but when I bought that one stock it was a year ago and apple stock cost $66 dollars to be exact... I can't afford one now :mad:

[JSF]

Smallfield, not trying to attack you, but do not confuse trading and investing as being the same thing. Investing is holding on for the long term. Trading is similar to gambling and not an advisable hobby to take up. Around 95% of day traders lose more than they will ever make. This is why people that run hedge funds make so much money o do it. If you are interested in value investing I would recommend The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. It is a little old but it sets a great foundation for someone getting started.

[SamoanDude]

Wished I had bought into it long ago :(

[smallfield]

Smallfield, not trying to attack you, but do not confuse trading and investing as being the same thing. Investing is holding on for the long term. Trading is similar to gambling and not an advisable hobby to take up. Around 95% of day traders lose more than they will ever make. This is why people that run hedge funds make so much money o do it. If you are interested in value investing I would recommend The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. It is a little old but it sets a great foundation for someone getting started.

Always open to suggestions. Will look it up on amazon.

I'm not really "trading" overall. The majority of my portfolio is stuff I'm going to hold long term. I guess I've traded on my tech stocks by accident. I always try to set a goal for a stock before I buy it. I decided that AAPL would be worth 160 when I bought for 140, when it hit that number I sold on my preset number. I guess I should reanalyze before a sell, but that's hard to be objective when you see something doing well. I usually shoot for a larger margin, but wanted to own AAPL.

I'm new at this, practicing w/ small amount of money for now :). Kinda like Vegas, just play with what you can loose. Thankfully, I've been lucky enough to make so far. I'd rather be lucky than good, but if possible being good and lucky would be ideal. I'll read the book.

I agree w/ you, for day trading you need to be able to use modeling software to predict the course of a stock, really know the companies you are trading and the confounders that influence their price. I don't really have time for that so I need to ensure I'm investing.

I agree AAPL is a good stock for growth and if you buy today and hold 3 years you'll probably double/triple your money. I do think AAPL poses significant risk as well.

To justify their PE premium, they need to maintain their margins and growth. If they reach a stable market share of PC/laptops/ipods/iphones there would be no reason to pay so much for their stock. They sell high end products as we go into a recession. There are companies starting to sell generic apple hardware (small now, but could grow). They have a high iPod market share that someone could take. There isn't a competitor now, but in tech it doesn't take long for things to change. On the other side, with the dollar decreasing in value they will make relatively cheaper products for international business. The iPhone will likely dominate the market once they make a diversified product line. Finally they have beautiful design and I think the best OS (although what is it, 80% the PC users don't agree enough to buy a mac).

I like AAPL and probably should have kept mine for years. I really think you should buy what you believe in (as long as you're not going to lose money). I thought 180/190 over the last couple weeks was a little high. When someone reads this in 2010 they'll be talking about the 3 bagger they had when they bought at 190... BUT, I'm just saying I think they did accept some risk to get that return.

[smallfield]

Just read some online pages from Graham. Looks to be a good book, ordered this am. Thanks again.

[JSF]

The key to investing is to try to take out al emotion. This is really important for long term success. Take Apple stock for instance, it was at 200 before the market started to slide. I remember it was all the way down to 120 just a couple of weeks ago and now back up to 179.85. The only explanation for this kind of swing is investor's emotions getting the best of them. If you own stock in a company that you feel really good about don't let the market scare you into selling when the price begins to drop. If you feel strongly about the company buy more when the price drops. You get it at a discount. If you are really interested about value investing you will love this book. Benjamin Graham is the father of value investing.

[dog24]

Is there a website where I can buy stocks?

Thanks.

[MrSmith]

Is there a website where I can buy stocks?

Thanks.
Through the Internet?

http://www.toys4lust.com/Bondage_Images/ankle_wrist_%20stock_small.jpg

Tee hee. :cool:

[PowerFullMac]

Nope, but it went down around February so I should have got some then, with this new device at WWDC I would be rich!

EDIT: Can 13 year olds buy stock?

[catfish743]

I wish I did. The value will only increase with time.

[birdmangriffin]

I use Scottrade (www.scottrade.com), and they have pretty low commissions (a flat $7). I do believe that you have to be 18 though. Perhaps a parent could make an account?

[TwinCities Dan]

:)

[Aron Peterson]

I was on AAPL bandwagon ages ago and jumped off because I was too chicken :(

[GGJstudios]

:cool:

[kabunaru]

No, I don't own Apple Stock.

[Wotan31]

Yep, I bought in at $128/share. I'm laughing all the way to the bank. I do plan to sell some however, to fund my purchase of a Montevina MBP when they come out later this year. ;)

[MrSmith]

...I'm laughing all the way to the bank...
Why? You're still holding the shares.

[Wotan31]

Why? You're still holding the shares.
Yeah, ok, you do have a point there Mr Smith. But in a stock trading sense, being up +35% is just 2 mouse-clicks from cash in the bank. And since the outlook is strong on AAPL, I don't expect to fall sharply in the next two months before I buy a MBP. ;)

[MrSmith]

You're right, of course. I just had this image of eggs rather than chickens... :D

[Joel Beason]

I was 15 when i told my dad to buy some and he didn't listen and now I'm 20 and I tell him he made a big mistake oh well

[aznmacwiz]

yes, only 2:D:D:D but i own bunch of their options.

[idyll]

I plan to once it comes down some more :p

God forbid Jobs leaves though

[a104375]

nope i dont :( i would love to tho

[bobertoq]

I remember I could have bought when the shares were $30.00 a piece. Now they have split, and they're at $80.00 a piece. Boy, did I miss the boat.Ya sure did... now it's $180 a piece.

[Insulin Junkie]

Nope, don't own any stock, don't want to either.